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Sunday, June 7, 2015

Ajahn Anan on Getting to Know the Mind

Ajahn Anan (1954-present): A mindful smile

When we first come to meditate, we
will notice quite quickly that even sitting for a minute seems almost impossible.
All we get is restlessness and agitation. With practice though, we will soon be
able to sit for longer periods. Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes—eventually
we will be able to sit for half an hour with ease. Sometimes the meditation is peaceful,
other times not, but in the beginning stages the key element is patience.

It’s important to see that the five
hindrances to peace in the mind—sensual desire, ill will, dullness,
restlessness, doubt—are not created by meditation. It’s just what is there
already. In daily life we are used to thinking a lot, and often not in a very
skillful or controlled way. This type of thinking tends to agitate the mind and
create different types of mental stress. So when we sit down to concentrate on
the breath or another meditation object, what we notice first is what is already
there. Suddenly we see, “Hmm, there’s a lot of thinking going on.” So to begin
with, just accept that it’s normal for the untrained mind to be like that. And
the way to deal with it skillfully is to develop this quality of mindfulness.

We meditate to get to know our mind.
But that doesn’t mean we think, “I’ve got to be peaceful!” If we think and
attach in this way then we’ll tend to get irritated with ourself when we’re not
peaceful. Our aim is just to know the mind. And when we’re working on
developing constant awareness, this will include times when we are not very
peaceful, when there are thoughts and distractions coming up. So we just know, “Oh,
now the mind is distracted.” There will also be times when our mindfulness and concentration
are strong and the hindrances disappear. At those times we are aware that, “Now
the mind is peaceful. Now the mind is calm and concentrated.” Whatever the
experience, we know it for what it is. That’s our aim.

Ajahn Anan is
abbot of Wat Marp Jan forest monastery in Thailand. He studied with the
internationally-renowned teacher Ajahn Chah and has been a monk since 1975. The above quotation is from the book 'Simple Teachings on Higher Truths' which can be downloaded for free from here.